


Shades of Blue & White

by TheTacticianAlchemist



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Azurrin Week 2017, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-11 15:52:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11717577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTacticianAlchemist/pseuds/TheTacticianAlchemist
Summary: Stand-alone oneshots written for Azurrin Week 2017.





	1. Armor

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone has a good Azurrin Week!

Azura winces as Corrin loops his arm around her. She leans heavily against him, taking in labored breaths. He tries not to worry about the warm, slick liquid he can feel through his gloves—it’s not that much, he’s seen far worse—but it sends him into a single-minded panic.

“You’ll be fine,” he says, unsure of whether he’s talking to her or to himself. “Sakura isn’t far away.”

“I know I will,” she says, and he can barely hear her. “It’s a scratch.”

“You sound like me when I get hurt.” He shakes his head and helps her along, back toward the rear of the line. The Faceless dwindle in number with each passing minute, and he has his brothers and sisters to thank for that—and their armies.

Elise went ahead to heal the front lines; Sakura remains at the back. When she sees her brother and foster-sister limping toward back, she gasps. She finishes healing Setsuna and hurries to usher Azura onto a mat on the ground. The Vallite princess lays down, and Corrin is careful to help her without hurting her, gently sweeping her hair out of the way.

Corrin’s heart leaps into his throat when he sees how her right side has been grazed—any further toward the center of her body, and she would have far worse blood loss, at the very least. The skin around it is plastered with brown, drying blood, and her white dress from the waist-down is soaked red.

“D-drink this,” Sakura says, pulling a vulnerary from her pouch. Corrin takes it from her to uncork the bottle and bring it to Azura’s lips while his sister pulls up her festal.

Azura’s wound stitches together, slowly, and Corrin breathes out a sigh of relief when it’s closed. Azura lays back, closing her eyes, relaxing as the pain fades.

“P-please, do not exert yourself tonight,” Sakura says. She hands a damp cloth to Corrin. “I-I need to go continue healing. And, um, Nee-sama,” she adds, looking to Azura but unable to meet her eyes. “Please… be careful in the future.” With that, she turns and hurries off.

Azura tries to sit up, but Corrin holds out his hand to push against her shoulder. “Rest for the moment. Let me clean you up.”

Her cheeks go pink. “Not exactly the most private place.”

It takes him until he’s put the cloth against her skin that he realizes her meaning. Cleaning up her arm, for example, would be normal; her side, so close to her hips, is far more intimate. He’s kissed her before, and held onto her sides, and even slept beside her on occasion with an arm slung around her, but that’s always been away from any prying eyes. He feels his cheeks and ears tingle. “I-I’m just trying to help.”

Her hand slides over his and grips his fingers. She smiles at him. “I know. How about you let me clean up, and I’ll let you help me find something new to wear until this dress is clean?”

He nods. “I can do that.”

()()()

There’s knocking on his door that night. “Corrin?”

He looks up from the reports on his desk. “Azura?”

The door opens, slowly, and Azura’s voice comes in. “I need to talk to you.”

“What is it?” He immediately puts down his papers and stands, coming to the door. He grabs the handle and opens it fully, and there Azura is, standing with her hands on her hips. She’s dressed head to toe in shiny, black Nohrian armor.

“Oh!” He smiles. “So you like it, then? Leo helped me pick it out.”

“Corrin!” Azura steps further into the room and extends her arms. The armor plating clinks together and makes her armors look roughly three times as thick as they actually are. “This is ridiculous! I only asked you to help me pick out something to wear until my dress is clean.”

His brows knit together in confusion. “I know. Elise helped me with the dress. Camilla, too. Did you not get it?”

“I’m not talking about the dress right now.” She puts her gloved hand on her forehead, sighs. “I can barely move in this. It’s heavy.”

“It’s protective." He comes closer and reaches out to put his hand on her arm. “This is a precaution. I can’t have you getting hurt like that again.”

“Corrin…” Azura shakes her head and grabs the edge of the breastplate, trying to lift it off. “I—gods… Watch me.”

She ushers him backward. Then, she lifts her arms above her head with grace, but the armor makes it her look clunky. She dances a very simple routine—she’s told him as much—twirling her arms above her head and spinning. Her voice rings out, loud and clear as a bell, and she adds in extra movement, moving from side to side. Even as practiced as she is, her steps seem off. All too soon, her voice hitches.

She continues for a few more moments, until her singing peters out into labored breathing. She stops, and looks at Corrin.

“My fighting style…comes from dance,” she explains. Her normally soft voice is hard, and her eyes narrow slightly. “I evade, and…I parry with my lance. But this heavy armor unbalances me. It’s hard to move, and my bad breathing interrupts my singing. Do you see, now? Why I don’t wear armor like this?”

She doesn’t wait for his answer and grabs at her breastplate. She tries to pull it off, but it won’t budge, and she huffs. “Help me.”

“Y-yes,” he stammers, jumping to her aid. He’s too scared of her bad mood to even be bombarded with embarrassing thoughts of helping her take off clothing of any form, even armor.

Finally, she’s left in a long-sleeved shirt and light pants. She plops down on his bed with the least amount of grace he’s ever seen and curls up on the sheets. Corrin stands, staring at her, unsure of what to say.

Finally: “I’m sorry.”

“…I know you mean well,” she says after a moment. “But there is no way that I can fight like that. It’s exhausting.”

Corrin thinks for a moment. He gestures to the space beside her. “May I sit?”

She nods, and he sits a few inches away from where her head rests. “All right,” he starts. “I was wrong. But… After today, I don’t feel comfortable letting you fight without some sort of armor.”

“Corrin,” she starts, but he places his hand over hers.

“We’ll commission you something light. Maybe like mine?” He extends his free arm, inspecting the seamless overlapping of his armor, so much like the scales of his dragon form. “It doesn’t have to be bulky, of course. And maybe we can tailor it to how you like…within reason.”

Azura looks up at him, her golden eyes wide, and then she lets out a laugh. “All right. We’ll try that.”

A shy smile spreads across his lips. “A good compromise, eh?”

“It’s the least you can do for putting me in _that_.”


	2. Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno if I like this one that much but here it is
> 
> my mom would sing this song for me all the time as a kind (just the first two stanzas), so I've always liked it as a lullaby.

“Mama,” Kana murmurs, trying to hide her yawn. “Will you sing me a song?”

Azura pats her daughter’s hair, hoping to soothe her. Shigure, still just shy of having his own room, lays on his bed, pretending to be asleep; she can feel his eyes on her. “A lullaby?”

“…Lullabies are for babies,” Kana pouts.

Azura puts her finger to her lips and speaks in a whisper. “Your father likes lullabies.”

Kana’s mouth falls open. It opens and closes a couple times, and then finally, she lays back down on her pillow with a loud flop. “Okay.”

It’s hard for Azura to hide her laugh. “All right… Just a little. I found a new one in the library. I’ll sing it for you.”

She took a breath, and sang out in a clear voice:

_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,_

_You make me happy when skies are grey._

_You never know, dear, how much I love you,_

_Please don't take my sunshine away._

She trails off, and Kana blinks open her sleepy eyes and hazily murmurs, “Tha’s short.”

Azura just smiles. “I’m afraid I still need to learn the rest of the song,” she says. She leans over and kisses Kana’s forehead. “Goodnight, my little princess.”

“G’night,” Kana whispers, closing her eyes.

Azura gets up and kisses Shigure’s forehead—he doesn’t stir at all, which is even more evidence to his being awake, since he’s such a light sleeper—and leaves for her room. Corrin hasn’t even changed from his kingly robes, sitting at his desk and going over reports from his siblings. Azura walks up to him and runs her hand playfully through his hair.

“Oh, hello,” he says, turning toward her. She leans down to peck his lips with a kiss. “Are they asleep?”

“Shigure was pretending to. I still can’t figure out why he does that.”

“I liked to try to escape my room and go spy on Felicia and Jakob. Gunter always caught me, though.” Corrin laughs for a moment before calming. “But he’s been trying to come into our bed for the past week—he could be just waiting for us to fall asleep so he can sneak in. Maybe it’s bad dreams.”

“I hope not,” Azura says quietly. She’s had more than her fair share of them, and she would hate for her son to suffer the same. “Maybe he just wants to listen to me sing to Kana without seeming too eager.”

“All embarrassed, then?” Corrin smiles. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to listen to your mother sing. And he likes to sing. But, I suppose he’ll come around.”

Azura hums in thought. “I hope so.”

()()()

She’s going over letters from Elise—personal _and_ professional ones, for once—when someone tugs on her dress. Azura looks to see little Shigure standing beside her, his head barely up to her chest while she sits. His cheeks are red, and he can’t meet her eyes.

She puts down the letter on her desk. “What is it, Shigure?”

He peers up at her with his big, golden eyes, and then quickly looks down again. “I… want to hear more of that song.”

“Oh?” She pats his head. “The one I sang the other night?”

He nods.

“I thought you were asleep,” she can’t help but say, and she also can’t help the smile that twists on her lips.

“I wasn’t,” he says in a small voice, and guilt pricks at Azura’s heart. She picks him up and puts him on her lap, and he snuggles against her.

“Hmm, well, it’s a really sad song,” Azura says. “Do you really want to learn it?”

He nods again. “It sounded pretty.”

“All right…” She sings the first stanza. It’s an easy tune, slow and drawn out, and Shigure easily falls into the sound. It takes a few tries for him to memorize the words, and she smiles and kisses his forehead, congratulating him before she continues on with the next stanza, holding him close:

_The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping,_

_I dreamt I held you in my arms._

_When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken,_

_So I hung my head, and I cried._

()()()

“Mother?”

Azura is writing a letter. “What is it?” she asks, finishing the sentence before putting her quill in the inkwell. She looks toward the doorway of the study, and Shigure is standing there. He’s sweating a bit, still in his pegasus riding gear. He pushes his hair out of his face—she can’t fathom why he would wear his bangs in front of his eye like that—and he seems excited, but agitated.

“What was that song you taught me as a child?”

She frowns. “I taught you a lot.”

“I mean…” He shakes his head, and then hums a tune. “I can’t remember the lyrics. Kana was humming it as she was practicing her dancing. It was stuck in my head on my whole flight.”

“Oh…” Azura hums the tune herself, and then snaps her fingers. “ _You are My Sunshine._ I found it in the library. It’s an old song.”

She sings the first line, and Shigure quickly joins in, his deeper voice strengthening the sound of hers. They go through the first stanza, and then the second, and then the refrain—but then, they both hesitate, and the song stops.

“It’s been so long,” Shigure murmurs.

Azura nods. “I can’t remember the rest. How about I look it up, and then later we can go over it?”

He nods. “Kana promised to model for a painting for me. I would join you, otherwise.”

“It’s fine. Go spend time with your sister.”

Shigure thanks her and heads off. Azura turns back to her letters, humming the tune.

()()()

_I'll always love you and make you happy,_

_If you will only say the same._

_But if you leave me to love another,_

_You'll regret it all one day._

Corrin raises an eyebrow as he lays beside Azura in their bed. “Is there something you want to talk to me about, dear?”

She laughs. “It’s a song I used to sing for Shigure and Kana when they were little. Shigure came in today singing part of it, so I went and found it in the library. Do you remember it?”

“I think I would have remembered hearing such a dark verse sung to our children.”

“I think that’s an optional verse? I don’t remember singing this one very often, if at all.” The moonlight streams through the window and highlights her pale hand as she rubs Corrin’s arm. “The song always struck me as a mother speaking to her children, for some reason. This verse sounds much more like a possessive lover.”

Corrin chuckles. “Should I be worried?”

Azura pulls him closer, a small laugh bubbling from her lips. “Well, dear, you’re getting a little old, so I don’t worry as much about ‘another woman.’”

“I really don’t know how to take that comment.”

“I only tease.”

“Well you, my sweet,” he says, kissing her lips, “look as beautiful as the day I met you. So forgive me if I’m a little more worried than you are about ‘leaving me to love another.’”

“Such little faith in me, I see.”

“Hey!”

“I’m teasing.”

()()()

Shigure presses his lips together as he looks at the paper. His mother’s neat handwriting is beside the middle stanza, reading, _Perhaps it’s best to leave this out, if the singer is going for a more familial tone, rather than that of a lover. But I can’t say that mothers either are happy about their children spending more and more time away from them._

“It’s such a sad song,” Kana says, leaning over his shoulder. She’s practically laying on top of his back as he sits in his chair. “I remember her singing it a little.”

“It’s a soothing melody. Beautiful for a lullaby,” Shigure says. He reaches back and rather carelessly pats Kana’s head; her signature bun has been abandoned for the day, and her long, light blue hair spills all over her shoulders.

“If you start singing it to the baby now, maybe they’ll end up a good singer by the time they come out,” Kana teases.

“So long as you don’t sing with your tone-deaf voice, dear sister.”

“Hey!”

“I inherited Mother’s voice, and you, her grace. It would be unfair for one of us to have both, don’t you think?”

Kana stands up straight, hands on her hips, and huffs. It still makes her look like a child, even though she’s nearing adulthood. “You’re so clumsy off your pegasus; you’d better be careful with your baby when they come.”

“I won’t drop them. And please don’t make them deaf with your singing.”

“Shigure!”

He laughs and stands, picking up the paper. “Mother will love that I’ve found this song. Will you let her know I’ve found it when you practice dancing together?”

“Only if you apologize.”

Shigure raises an eyebrow at her. “I apologize…for telling you the truth.”

“Hey!”

()()()

Shigure’s wife smiles at him when he comes into their quarters. He pecks her lips and puts a hand on her rounded stomach. “I found a lullaby my mother used to sing for me and Kana.”

“Oh? Do share. I’m sure the baby will love it.”

He can’t resist it.

_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,_

_You make me happy when skies are grey._

_You never know, dear, how much I love you,_

_Please don't take my sunshine away._


	3. Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think both of them, especially at the beginning of being taken into the other country, were very lonely and scared despite the friendly faces around them.

“Azura?”

The water reaches up to her thighs, and her kimono, light for the summer season, is bunched in her hands to keep it from getting too wet. The lake is still, cool, and the light of the setting sun reflects into her eyes. She turns to see Mikoto standing on the shore, her smile strained.

Azura nods, her shoulders hunching up. Mikoto seems to mean her no harm (“I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry, little one,” she said when they met), but there is nothing familiar about this place.

“It’s time for dinner. Please, won’t you come with me?”

Azura bites her lip, but wades out of the water and comes to Mikoto’s side. The woman pats her head, and for a moment, Azura thinks of her own mother—and then the warmth disappears, replaced by the ever-present anxiety.

 _I want my mommy_.

She holds in her tears—she’s become good at that, after living in Garon’s castle surrounded by all those women who preyed on weakness—and follows Mikoto all the way back into Shirasagi. Dinner is being set onto the low table in the center of the dining room. Mikoto easily sits seiza at the head, and motions for Azura to sit beside her. Ryoma, a few years Azura’s elder, sits at Mikoto’s right hand, with Hinoka next to him. Little Takumi is at the table, too, but Sakura is too young to leave the nursery. The other head of the table is notably absent, as is the space beside it, but there are two small bowls of rice placed there regardless.

Ryoma nods to Azura, but Hinoka glares at her food. Azura bites her lip and her eyes fall to the table. Mikoto gently tells them that they may start to eat, so she starts with her vegetables, fumbling with her chopsticks. Mikoto once offered to get her a fork, but she silently shook her head, and has never gone back on that decision.

Mikoto and Ryoma are experts at drawing conversation out of others. Takumi, as young as he is, is more easily distracted and he talks about his day spent in boring classes before he got to play with some “Hinata-kun,” crossing sticks-for-swords. Hinoka opens up eventually, speaking about her naginata training and her pegasus riding lessons. Mikoto’s eyes flash with fear—Azura knows that look from her own mother—when Hinoka shows off the scrape on her leg, but only quietly says, “Be sure to be more careful next time, sweetie.”

Azura chokes down her tofu next. And then her bony fish, and finally, the too-plentiful rice. She doesn’t leave a single grain behind, not after the third night in a row that she had done so, when Mikoto looked disdainfully at Takumi’s bowl and said, “What a waste, Takumi; you should always eat your rice, because you never know when you might not have it the next day.” Takumi whined about Azura not finishing hers, and Mikoto had sputtered for the excuse that Azura wasn’t feeling well.

Which was the truth. Which _is_ the truth. But she doesn't want that to happen ever again.

No one is excused from the table until everyone is finished with dinner. With nothing to say, Azura finishes first, despite her tendency to eat slowly. Conversation swirls around her, and all she can think is, _I don’t belong here._

Eventually, Mikoto tells them all to go take baths and get ready for bed. Ryoma takes Takumi’s chubby hand and leads him to the boys’ onsen. Mikoto follows behind Hinoka and Azura, who don’t stand nearly as close as the brothers do, as they head into the girls’ changing room. Azura keeps her eyes down and tries not to feel self-conscious as she takes off her clothes and goes to wash before Mikoto can offer to scrub her scalp for her.

When she’s finished, she ties her hair up and moves into the baths. Mikoto and Hinoka still take their time, and Azura takes the opportunity to move to the farthest space, near the wall, where she can look up and see the moon. It sits, curved like a smile, among the stars, and she wonders if anyone else is looking at it, if anyone else—her mother, a hero, anyone—can feel her loneliness.

_I want someone to come and take me away._

()()()

Kamui is cold. Freezing. His body wracks with chills, despite the layers of blankets draped over him. The Nohrians are around him, trying to soothe him with kind words and calls of his “new” name. Their accents are hard, and sometimes they speak to one another in that not-Common language, and unfamiliar words terrify him. “Corrin,” they say, “are you feeling all right?”

He responds to “Corrin” because it is always followed with an offer for help. He accepts their water and their food because he’s too thirsty and hungry not to. Whenever his eyes open, his vision swims, and he can barely make out the faces around him.

He twitches, and his gaze flies to the silver light coming in from his right. The moon.

Kamui tries to move his arm toward it, like the moon is a person who’s come for him, to take him away, but he's too weak. He can feel the presence, calming and steady, but unlike anyone he’s ever known.

 _Please,_ he begs, parting his lips but unable to speak. The moonlight is fading from his vision, and he’s falling into blackness. 


	4. Color

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy

Exhaustion floods Corrin’s limbs as Garon’s liquid, muck-like form fades like evaporating water. He stares at the throne blankly, almost expecting Garon’s form or even Iago to appear from nowhere and battle them again. But there's no one.

And finally, he turns to his siblings and comrades, a smile of relief wide on his face.

“We did it,” he says, barely breathing it out. He sheathes his sword, and his siblings stand around, still taking in the fact that they’ve defeated their father.

Azura walks toward him, realization dawning in her gold eyes. “We’ve done it, Corrin,” she says, breath light. The slightest laugh bubbles from her lips, signaling her relief of being free from their lies after months, of being free from Garon’s tyranny after _years_.

He grins, and though he’s exhausted—there has been too much fighting today, too much fighting these long, many months, and too many deaths that weigh on his shoulders—but the sight of Azura’s bright eyes and beautiful smile rejuvenates him. He would do anything for her—has already done so much for her. He would follow her into hell.

“Thank you so much,” he says, opening up his arms as she approaches. “I couldn’t—”

_Thwack!_

The red in Azura’s cheeks pales. “O-oh,” she says, falling forward into Corrin’s embrace, her fingers tightening around his arms.

His eyes go wide. “…Azura?”

Her legs give out, and he’s the only thing keeping her from falling to the red carpet. She looks up at him, her gold eyes wide with fear. “Corrin,” she gasps. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t….”

“Elise!” Corrin yells. His vision tunnels, and all he can see is Azura clinging to him. Someone comes up beside him, and a staff glows, but the light in Azura’s eyes is still dulling. She reaches for her pendant, clutching it tightly: “ _You are…_ ” She can’t even finish a line, her singing no more than a rasp.

“Azura! Azura!” Corrin sinks to his knees, trembling as he pulls Azura into his lap. Elise kneels beside them, her staff pulsing, but it’s too late to stop the flow of the color that runs from her now-pale cheeks out her back. Still, Azura opens her mouth to sing, barely audible.

“Shh, shh, don’t—” he starts, cupping her cheek. His hand is red with her blood, and it smears on her skin. She is so, so pale, unnaturally so. “Save your strength, please…”

Azura’s gaze was trained on him, but now, her eyes wander to a point past him, to a faraway place. “…I couldn’t stop… I’m sorry…”

She grows still.

Corrin trembles. Words are spoken around him, but he doesn’t hear. He can’t hear, can’t feel, can’t see anything but her in his arms, and she’s dead.

It’s only moments later that a shout rouses him, but it feels like eons. He looks up to see that his siblings stand between him and the grand doorway, where a figure stands. Cold seeps through Corrin’s entire being, like having ice-water poured over him. He gently places Azura into Elise’s embrace and stands, glaring.

Takumi shudders in the doorway, a murky haze circling around him. An unfamiliar bow is in his grasp, and his eyes are as red as the blood on Corrin’s hands, as red as Corrin’s own eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short and sweet


	5. Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "but it's not AU day" you say
> 
> fool
> 
> every day is AU day
> 
> (also, have you ever seen those fan arts and fan edits of Azura with short hair? ooooh boy I'm even more in love)

Azura holds the picture tightly between her thumb and forefinger. Her hand shakes, and splatters of tears fall onto the image of her next to Corrin, a blush on both their cheeks and his arm around her waist. In the photo, her hair still trails down toward her knees.

A bit of cold air touches the back of her bare neck, and she shivers. The house is dark, aside from the few lights in the living room. After coming home from work, she’d forgotten to turn any other ones on, nor did she turn up the heat. Instead, she’d sat on the couch and tried—and failed—not to think about how empty the house is with him gone.

“I don’t need him,” she says suddenly, her voice hard and red building in her vision.

She rushes into the kitchen, flicking on the lights. The counter is a mess of half-eaten sandwiches and microwave pasta dishes, a few of them several days old. The mess further irritates her—she should pick up after herself like she always does, keep the house clean like both she and he have always done, but she _just can’t_ —but she ignores it and rummages through the drawers for the box of matches. When she finds it, she returns to the living room and grabs the day’s newspaper and throws it into the cold fireplace, onto the logs.

“I have a life to live,” she says, and she thinks about this stupid house and how far away it is from her dreams but so close to _his_ family and _his_ job. She strikes the match and as she watches the flame burst to life at the tip, she considers throwing it onto the carpet and watching as the fire starts to overtake this place, but she instead tosses it into the fireplace, onto the newspaper. The flame catches quickly, and within a few moments, it’s spread to the wood, and light and warmth and _fury_ blaze from it.

She turns back to the coffee table and grabs the photo. It’s only one of many. Upstairs, in their room, is the album he gave her for her birthday last year, full of pictures taken from back when they first met and filled until that point; they’d spent the next year filling in the rest of the pages one by one. But this one was just after they’d announced they were dating, when they were still getting comfortable with each other as boyfriend and girlfriend.

The fireplace radiates heat and power, calling to her. She jerks back toward it, hand outstretched, ready to throw the photograph into the fire.

But she doesn’t.

The tears come cascading down her cheeks. Her hand shakes, but she can’t let go of the photo.

Her arm drops into her lap, and she stares at the flames blankly. Her gaze shifts down to the picture in her lap, and her heart aches.

She gropes around the table for her phone. It’s almost midnight, somehow. Her inbox is filled with text messages, but she put her phone on silent and hadn’t heard them come in. One or two are from Felicia and Mozu, another from Elise…and the rest are from him.

After minutes of staring, she taps on his name. The application takes her to the first of his messages, sent several days ago, and she reads.

_Xander is letting me stay at his place_

_Please call me when you can_

_I’m really sorry but I can’t leave my job right now. You know there’s so much work to be done and it’ll be too hard to transfer anywhere closer to where you can make your auditions. There’s too much going on right now. We can talk about going to auditions but it’ll have to be in a year at least._

_...Did you cut your hair because of this? I mean I like it it's really beautiful but I just want to know_

_Are you ever going to talk to me again?_

_Please don’t shut me out. I miss you._

_?_

_I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to do. I love you._

_I’m sorry_

_Azura?_

_I’ve been thinking a lot._

_Things are hard right now for the both of us, and I knew that, but I don’t think I knew to just what extent you were sad and unhappy with the way things are. We only have the house because Xander was willing to help out after Garon disowned me. I don’t want to be mooching off of my siblings all my life even though Xander let me back into the company after Garon passed away. I’ve been working hard there every day, hoping we could save enough to be happy, but I think I lost sight of what that really means._

_I’m happy with you, Azura. Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy. If that means you leaving, then I won’t stop you. Just know that I love you and always will. I want to make us work again._

She closes her eyes and leans her head on her arm.

A moment later, she presses the call button.

Corrin picks up after the fourth ring. “H-hello?”

She remembers how he stuttered on their first date. How he tends to get clumsy when he’s nervous—he probably fumbled when answering his phone, it's a miracle he didn't drop it under a bed or couch and not be able to answer. She lets out a breath, too tired and too nervous to laugh but wanting so much to.

“…Are you okay?”

“Physically,” she says. She bites her lip. “I’m sorry. Will you come home?”

“Oh, god,” Corrin says, all in a rush, and Azura smiles genuinely for the first time in weeks. “Of course I will.”


	6. AU (Persona 5)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major spoilers because I'm pulling heavily from Futaba's persona awakening. More headcanons and the like will be down at the bottom.

“I…”

Azura’s voice trembles. Her head spins.

 _“Why won’t you sing, my darling?”_ her mother asks, her golden eyes unnaturally bright. Arete is wearing a black dress sparkling with sequins and raven feathers, high heels increasing her height by a few inches. She cocks her hip and places her hand on it. _“After all that you did to me, you won’t grant me the simple pleasure of hearing you sing?”_

Azura’s hand slaps over her mouth as a surge of nausea strikes at her. _What is going on?!_ She’s standing in a hotel bar, the building crawling with monsters she never thought could exist, with people who can fight them. And her dead mother is in front of her, speaking to her.

“Azura,” someone says, and she looks at Corrin, barely registering him. Instead of his school uniform or any sort of casual clothes, he’s in a skintight battle suit complete with a cape and a golden sword at his side. An intricate mask the color of ivory covers his face, extending upward like antlers. “Don’t listen to her. She’s not real.”

 _“What idiocy! Of course I’m real, sweetie.”_ Arete’s voice reverberates like multiple people are speaking at once. Her gaze is sharp, digging into Azura. _“I’m as real as I’ve always been to you.”_

Hot shame, fear, and dread surround her, causing her to shake. She doesn’t want to hear this anymore. She doesn’t want to see this anymore. “Go away!” she shrieks, covering her ears, like she’s been doing for years since her mother committed suicide. Since she caused her mother to commit suicide.

 _“If that’s how you want to treat me, you might as well die,”_ Arete sneers.

“Why?” Azura whispers, falling to her knees. “Why would you…”

“Azura!” Someone’s hand touches her arm, and she looks, and it’s Corrin again. He’s staring hard and steady into her eyes, grounding her to the physical. “This isn’t your mother. She’s just what you’ve imagined her to be. You don’t have to let her be in control.”

She hears the words, but doesn’t understand them.

 _“You heard it all from the men in black suits, remember?”_ Arete continues. Her eyes are wild. _“How they came and read the suicide note? Blaming all my sadness and sorrows on you.”_

“Azura, she’s lying to you,” Corrin insists, holding her tight. “Your cognition of what happened was warped.”

“That’s right!” someone calls, and she turns to see Felicia, wearing the costume of a maid of all things, a feathered mask on her face. “Your mother really loved you! Don’t you remember?”

“She worked hard for your sake, but that doesn’t mean it made her depressed!” Silas calls, in his own costume, shining like a night, and beside him is a silent Kaze, a black mask over his eyes, and he nods his agreement.

“I didn’t…kill her?” Azura whispers.

Corrin shakes his head. “No, you didn’t.”

 _“What lies they spill,”_ Arete hisses. _“Listen to them, how—”_

“Stop it.”

Arete freezes.

Azura shakes. She glares at her mother—at this _fake_ , warped cognition of her. “I won’t listen to you anymore!”

A sudden jolt shakes her, an icy hand clenching around her head and heart. She gasps in pain, hunching over and holding her head. A voice, much like her own, speaks to her, and only her.

_“What denies you is an illusion. A curse put upon you by the heartless. You knew from the very beginning, and yet, you cowered in fear.”_

“I knew,” she gasps, and she can see something in her mind. A blue and white shape, resembling a woman. “That’s right. But I…”

 _“Will you die as you are told by your so-called mother?”_ the voice in her head asks. _“Who will you obey? Cursed words spat out by a seething illusion? Or the truth within your own soul?”_

“I won’t be deceived anymore,” she says, looking up and glaring again at the cognitive form of her mother. “And I won’t be led astray by others. I’m going to trust my own eyes and my own heart to distinguish the truth from the lies. There’s no way you’re my mother! You’re just a fake, created by those horrid people who fed me those lies! I’ll never… I’ll never forgive them!”

A burst of golden light fills her vision, suddenly and fully, and a warmth surrounds her.

“Siren,” she whispers, and her persona smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't get so far as to think about other party members. But of course, Anankos is the god pulling all the strings, and Garon is taking Shido's place. I suppose a deranged Leo could take Akechi's role, considering Leo has attention issues too (Takumi of course does, but he's not Garon's son so *shrug*). Also I forgot fish-dragon!Lilith, she of course is the mascot.
> 
> Azura's persona, Siren, plays the role of helper persona. She can use her songs to power up the team, and um....scream at the enemy like echolocation to figure out weaknesses. I guess. Azura's outfit is much the same as her in-game Conquest outfit, complete with the mask, but there's a special gold addition around her eyes and the dark mesh hangs from it. Siren is blue/white/gold with flowers and ribbons and such, but is a mermaid.


	7. Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been wanting to do a fic inspired by Snow Patrol's "An Olive Grove Facing the Sea" for Azurrin for ages now. Please go check out the song before reading this fic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydITwNIu6Uk

Corrin’s first memory of her, oddly, is from a dream.

He stood outside, in a place familiar but unknown, the fresh breeze ruffling his hair. The air smelled of grass and water and trees, even a hint of the not-too far-off ocean—a scent he shouldn’t have known—and things that were _alive_ , and he knew it was nowhere near his tower.

 _I can’t tell anyone about this,_ he thought, thinking his dream for real. _Not even Elise or Leo…_

And as he was thinking, a string of singing caught his ears, and he turned toward a calm, circular lake surrounded by sandy beaches; a small dock jutted into the water, and ten feet past the edge, a blue and white figure was swimming.

An angel.

Her hair was long and blue like the sky, her clothes as pure white as the clouds. He thought she must have come down from heaven for a swim, to grace the land with her presence.

Surely, an angel such as her should have sensed him, but she gave no indication that she did, even when she turned in the water and smiled the barest of smiles, but he could still feel the warmth and genuine emotion behind the action. Without quite knowing why or how, he felt tears slide down his cheeks.

 _I want to be out here,_ he thought. _In the fresh air, with her, forever. And I wouldn’t tell anyone about this place. It would be just her and me, forever._

He took a step forward, and then another, and he found himself behind a tree, watching her. She was so beautiful, and so knowing—he knew, _knew_ , that she was aware of his presence, and merely pretending that he wasn’t there. He thought that nothing wasn’t within her power to do, and suddenly, he felt afraid.

_I won’t be able to live up to any of her expectations._

It was true. It had to be true. He felt suddenly lost, like he had been thrust into the wild without his siblings or even a weapon or map to aid him. And he felt suddenly so very tired, as if he had waged countless wars for countless moons, and his body ached.

And then, before he realized anything happened, a hand stretched out in front of him.

He blinked and looked up, finding the angel’s gold eyes. She smiled.

He doesn’t know exactly what she said, but her voice was soft and soothing, asking him about rest. He only nodded, his cheeks and ears tingling, and took her hand. She led him out into the grasses, laying on them. He did the same, marveling at how full and cool the blades felt under his skin, unlike the patchy lawns around the tower.

“Am I in Heaven?” He remembers that he must have asked that aloud, because the angel beside him laughed, and it sounded like bubbles rising to the surface of water.

“Just fall asleep,” she said, her hand still in his, staring at the starlit sky above them. “You’re safe here, with me.”

He closed his eyes, and she hummed a beautiful song, so much like a lullaby.

()()()

The dream returns to him only sometimes. It calms him, brings him more rest than any other nights. He didn’t remember that he’d had the dream in the first place until fairly recently, a year or two ago.

In the mornings, when he wakes up to an empty bed, he can close his eyes and imagine that his angel, his Azura, is still there beside him, and it feels real in a sense that he cannot describe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a pleasure to be a host for Azurrin Week again this year. It always makes me so happy to see so much content for such a beautiful ship. I hope everyone had fun this year, and hopefully we'll be back next year, too.


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